Crystal Wedding

by Xu Xiaobin

Women know the pressures of home family and work. But what if you add domestic abuse and live in post-Mao China, where a woman's position is ambiguous? Tianyi's story explores these themes. The sudden appearance of new characters and long flashbacks confused me but I went with the flow, sympathising with her frustrations, sexual and professional and celebrating her courage and eventual freedom. A glimpse into a life so much harder than mine.

Extract

She was utterly conflicted: intellectually open-minded, in her behaviour very conservative. In those days she believed that the man should always make the first move. If she had initiated it, she would not have felt happy even if the man actually responded. Lian never wanted intimacy. They had changed, it seemed, from being lovers to being friends, and from friends to comades.

Translated by Nicky Harman

Parallels

Love in a Fallen City by Eileen Chang

Summer of Betrayal by Hong Ying

happysad

funnyserious

safedisturbing

expectedunpredictable

larger than lifedown to earth

beautifuldisgusting

gentleviolent

easydemanding

no sexsex

conventionalunusual

optimisticbleak

shortlong

Character

Race

Black2

White5

Asian1

Mixed race3

Other culture4

Non-human6

Age

0-251

26-502

51-753

76+4

Sexuality

Straight2

Gay1

Bisexual3

Gender

Male1

Female2

We are working to add Non-binary to our gender choices. In the meantime, if you know any books with non-binary main characters you think we should include, please let us know.